A Place to Stand

Comments from Scotland on politics, technology & all related matters (ie everything)/"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."Henry Louis Mencken....WARNING - THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS HAVE DECIDED THAT THIS BLOG IS LIKELY TO BE MISTAKEN FOR AN OFFICIAL PARTY SITE (no really, unanimous decision) I PROMISE IT ISN'T SO ENTER FREELY & OF YOUR OWN WILL

Thursday, September 28, 2006

British commanders in Afghanistan have recommended that their men receive almost 180 awards for gallantry, including "several" Victoria Crosses, following the most intense fighting since the Korean War......

Describing the range of actions, a senior Whitehall source said: "You are talking about bayonet and grenade actions, Chinooks landing troops while being raked by gunfire and 105mm guns in direct fire mode."

The latter comment refers to light field guns being used with their barrels horizontal due to the proximity of the enemy Â something not seen since Korea. "We're talking Waterloo stuff here," a source told The Daily Telegraph.

Officers are thought to have recommended about half a dozen VCs, mainly for the troops of 16 Air Assault Brigade. The airborne forces last received the ultimate award for bravery in such quantity during the disastrous Arnhem operation in September 1944.

The recommendations follow three months of vicious fighting in Helmand.

The scale of the awards suggests a conflict out of all proportion to the security operation first outlined by the Government.....

This is very serious.

Britain has no reserves because they are all in Iraq etc. Without reserves we are heading for a military defeat & a unit getting wiped out.

When that happens it will make massive headlines which will do no good - it should be reported now while we may still have some options, however unpalatable.

The Afghan war was the one legitimate one we have been involved in lately - we cannot allow al Quaeda to win this.

The other NATO countries have made it quite clear that they will send troops to Afghanistan only if they go to places where ther is no chance of them getting hurt.

I must confess thatIi do not know what to do here. It might be possible to get some of the warlords off by negotiating with them & backing off a bit on our wish to reshape Afghanistan as a feminist liberal democracy. I would happily pull troops out of Iraq to reinforce here - Iraq is a pointless mess but al Quaeda is a real enemy we have undertaken to defeat. However it goesIi think we must steel ourselves for some very bad news & give the troops everything they need - they are putting their bodies in harm's way for us.

The SNP's objection does not appear to be to a rail link to Turnhouse airport in principle (letters 26th sept) but to the Executive's desire to spend £600 million on a tunnel under the runway when it would be perfectly possible to build a station on the main line to Glasgow (possibly the Aberdeen line as well) connected to the airport by a moving walkway for probably only a few hundred thousand pounds.---------------------------------Unfortunately they decided not to publish the remaining parts or to name my new persona (9% Growth Party), which is a little surprising since they have regularly mentioned Ian Irodie's Scottish Enterprise Party which is not noticeably larger. My addition has been put on the comments section. A slightly different version of the full letter was yesterday sent ot som other Scottish papers.__________________________________

Recently the executive decided to spend £200+million on a rail link to Glasgow airport despite having a proposal to build a a monorail to Paisley Gilmour St for £20 million (there being trains from Paisley to Glasgow & indeed Prestwick every few minutes). I happen to know this because, as, at the time, a member of the Liberal Democrats I was invited to find some company interested in quoting for a monorail (or arguably brushed off with that suggestion) & when I did so was informed they didn't really mean it & such a proposal would have to come from the party leadership. Such a monorail would also have improved access between Glasgow & Prestwick airports allowing them to act somewhat as a hub.

Equally on several occasions your columns have featured proposals from Roy Pedersen & others to build a tunnel under the Forth at between a half & a quarter of the £1 billion expected for a bridge. This has also been rejected by the Executive for no clearly defined reason.

Like Adam Smith I am in favour of government being willing to invest in our infrastructure but it should be done on sensible terms not always going for the ridiculously expensive option.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

The energy output from the Sun has increased significantly during the 20th century, according to a new study.

Many studies have attempted to determine whether there is an upward trend in the average magnitude of sunspots and solar flares over time, but few firm conclusions have been reached.

Now, an international team of researchers led by Ilya Usoskin of the Sodankylä Geophysical Observatory at the University of Oulu, Finland, may have the answer. They examined meteorites that had fallen to Earth over the past 240 years. By analyzing the amount of titanium 44, a radioactive isotope, the team found a significant increase in the Sun's radioactive output during the 20th century.

Over the past few decades, however, they found the solar activity has stabilized at this higher-than-historic level.

Prior research relied on measurements of certain radioactive elements within tree rings and in the ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica, which can be altered by terrestrial processes, not just by solar activity. The isotope measured in the new study is not affected by conditions on Earth.

The results, detailed in this week's issue of the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters, "confirm that there was indeed an increase in solar activity over the last 100 years or so," Usoskin told SPACE.com.

The average global temperature at Earth's surface has risen by about 1 degree Fahrenheit since 1880 ......

I don't know if this will pan out though it seems to be weel investigated. If it does then any warming over the last century will be explained. What can be said with certainty is that, with this & other explanations involving increased methane release from plants, more cows etc., is that the warming effect is so small & the degree of uncertainty over everything is so great that it cannot possibly be honestly said that the anthropogenic warming, let alone catastrophic anthropogenic warming is anywhere close to being proven, or even a clear prime hypothesis.

Monday, September 25, 2006

On April 12 1999, a huge haul of arms and ammunition, destined for the KLA,was found in the Italian port of Ancona aboard trucks leased by Caritas.[11] The cargo had officially been declared as a German Caritas humanitarianaid shipment for Kosovo refugees. [12] The trucks were loaded at the Caritascenter in Sarajevo. [13]

The customs officials, who searched the trucks, found 30 tons of warmaterial, including anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles, rocket launchersand machine guns. [14]

Most of the arms were of Russian or East European origin, but many bore NATOmarkings. More than 1,000 mortars said to have been "stolen" from a NATOarsenal in Germany were found onboard the trucks. [15]

There was some legitimate humanitarian aid onboard the trucks, but it was ofpoor quality, much of the food had already passed its expiration date. [16]

The Italian authorities claimed that Buellesbach had links to Germanintelligence. [18] On that basis one could speculate that he's the one who"stole" the mortars from the German NATO base.

The 15-meter-long trucks had been rebuilt to transport illegal cargo. [19]One truck was fitted with a double floor, while another one had a secretcloset behind the driver's cabin big enough for six people [20].

Italian authorities said that the arms were destined for a training camp ofthe Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in Scutari in northern Albania. [21]

The name of the consignee on the export documents, was one Father LucianoAugustino, a parish priest in Scutari. [22]

General Alberto D'Amico, the military commander in charge of customs for theregion that includes Ancona, confirmed claims by Italian security sourcesthat it was impossible that British and American intelligence could havebeen unaware of the smuggling. [23]

A NATO spokesman said that while the Alliance had no contact with the KLA."Some individual countries which are member countries of NATO may have somecontacts. Of course that is not a guarantee that such things are nothappening, smuggling and so on." [24]

Caritas denied that it had any role in the arms smuggling. It issued astatement saying, "These trucks are not from Caritas, even if the logo (onthe trucks) is the same." [25]

CONCLUSION

The trucks were leased by Caritas, and loaded at the Caritas center inSarajevo, and we're supposed to believe Caritas when it says that it hadnothing to do with this? Just like were supposed to believe that somebodymanaged to walk onto a German NATO instillation and steal over 1,000mortars?

The conclusion is obvious. The Vatican was using its Caritas "charity" toprovide a cover for NATO, or at least German, arms smuggling to the KLA.They may also have provided Iran, the world's leading terrorist state, withthe same cover in Bosnia when Omerbasic led the Caritas convoy to Vitez.

The Vatican's goals are the same now as they were when Stepinac founded theCroatian branch of Caritas, and had it forcibly convert Serb inmates held inCroatian concentration camps to Roman Catholicism.

Pope John Paul II, rather than distancing the Catholic Church from Stepinac,did the opposite. The Pope beatified Stepinac on October 3, 1998. [26]

Notwithstanding the Scotland on Sunday report (in 1999) it is quite obvious that the fact that the Catholic Church was caught red handed smuggling guns, mortars & anti-aircraft missiles to Moslem terrorists, recognised at the time as terrorists & openly proclaiming their commitment to genocide, is a matter that is being deleted from history. Whether this also proves that NATO were deliberately supplying the weapons is one of only 2 possibilities. The only alternate theory being that a crack Vatican commando squad broke into a NATO base & carried off tons of weaponry without anybody noticeing.

I think this is an important matter which goes to the heart of the question of whether either, or both, NATO & the Papacy are wholly corrupt racist & Nazi organisations, or jointly controlled by such people (eg the Bilderburgers). It should not be allowed to disappear.

The bit at the end about God's self-styled representative on earth knowingly supporting the genocide of the WW2 & current Croatian Nazi regimes should also be recognised.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

The Points section (1 paragraph letters) of the Scotsman had a couple of letters on the Lib Dem conference & why they should support the SNP in a referendum on independence & 1 on broccoli. This is the latter letter & the follow up comments

Broccoli When I was a wee lassie (I am now 78) broccoli mercifully didn't seem to exist. We had cauliflower, cabbage, neeps, but no broccoli. So when did this green menace creep on to our vegetable shelves? I have never liked it, but would occasionally cook it for my reluctant family on the basis that it is "good for you". However, I can now happily ignore it and blame it on the genes.

2. Duncan, Newington, Edinburgh / 10:28am 23 Sep 2006 Kenny, I hope you'll join me in calling for Isobel to write in again and tell us her views on carrots, sweetcorn and onions. Perhaps in a later series she can move on to the more exotic ranges - artichokes, butternut squash, the sweet potato? I'll bet these crazy foods weren't even invented when she was a wee lassie! Whit a world we live in!

Yes, I do 'cos I don't like it either. Anyway, how can any right thinking person eat something with a name more aking to a disease or skin condition?;-)

4. Tabman / 2:59pm 23 Sep 2006 Rod.What? Like artichoke?

5. Frank, Preston / 3:47pm 23 Sep 2006 Are not the Lib-Dems a unionist party?Why on earth would they wish to join in a coalition with The Separatist party who have only one policy?

6. Neil, 9% GROWTH Party / 6:26pm 23 Sep 2006 "I have never liked it, but would occasionally cook it for my reluctant family on the basis that it is "good for you".

Isobel my advice is that if you & all the members of your family don't like it then don't eat it. Ignore Jack McConnell when he decideds to introduce broccoli subsidies & social worker inspectors to come round & check how much broccoli you are eating. Eat your other greens in public places if you wish - enjoying your food is much better for you than doing what politicos who know no more than you say is good for you.

The same applies to entering pacts & voting for referenda you don't like.

7. Duncan, Newington, Edinburgh / 7:26pm 23 Sep 2006 Neil, I find your attitude to vegetables very refreshing in the current political climate, and despite disagreeing with you about broccoli I would like to hear more. Do you have a pamphlet or a newsletter to which I could subscribe?

8. Graham / 11:04pm 23 Sep 2006 I like to hide broccoli inside Big Macs for my children. I also dry it and mix it with their packets of tobacco so they get plenty of iron in their spliffs.